Amusement apparatus



H. F. MAYNES.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.I0, |920.

V1 ,362,885, Patented Dec, 21, 1920.

(g1/wanton UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HYLA FREDERICK MAYNES, OF GAINES, PENNSYLVANIA.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

Original application led March 9, 1920, Serial No. 364,468.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1920.

Patent No. 1,353,929, dated September 28,

1920. Divided and this application filed August 10, 1920. Serial No. 402,636.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HYLA FREDERICK MAYNES, a citizen of the United States,y residing at Gaines, in the county of Tioga, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Amusement Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an amusement apparatus, amusement being that afforded by means of a short car ride preferably along a winding, tortuous railway abounding in unexpected curves, and at the same time subjecting the rider to sudden speed changes.

In the so-called roller-coaster type of amusement device it is common practice to speed the car up and down grades at more or less varying rates of speed, but in such devices there are no sudden speed changes, and no quick and startling changes in direction. The advantages of the present device over the ordinary roller-coaster reside in the fact that the passenger is hurled or projected from curve to curve of a winding, tortuous guideway in an irregular and jerky fashion, and as he rounds the successive curves he is spun now to the right and now to the left.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a simple and efficient apparatus for effecting the desirable results noted above, and more specifically to design a novel type of projecting apparatus, or that mechanism which imparts the desired motion to the passenger carrying cars.

A further object of the invention is to design a car specially adapted to travel on this type of railway, and make contact with the projecting mechanism.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood reference is had to the accompanying drawings disclosing a preferred embodiment thereof, and in which:

Figure l represents a plan view of the general layout of the apparatus, showing the trackway and the several projectors situated at its turns;

Fig. 2 is a section on an enlarged scale through one of the projectors and trackway taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, and showing a car in contact with this projector;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the car; and,

Fig. 4 is a plan of the car.

In these drawings 1 represents the guideway in which the car 2 is adapted to run. This guideway is preferably of a winding and tortuous nature having a plurality of irregular and reverse curves, around which the car is projected by the mechanism to be described later. The guideway itself comprises track members 3 and vertical wall members 4: defining a passageway for the car 2.

At the curves of this trackway is situated a plurality of horizontally rotating projectors 5, each comprising a disk-shaped body 6 rotatably mounted upon a central axis 7 and supported by a series of wheels or rollers 8 which revolve upon a circular trackway 9. Power is applied to these projectors by means of cable 10 passing around a sheave 12 fixed to the lower face of the projector. This cable may pass around sheaves on all of the projectors, and thus all may be driven from a common source of power. It is, however, entirely feasible to drive each projector by means of its own separate motor. The peripheral edge of the projector is provided with a facing of rubber or leather, or other friction material 13 for a purpose to be described later.

At those turns of the guideway at which projectors are situated, the inner vertical wall member 4 of the guideway is discontinued, and its place filled in a measure by the peripheral edge of the projector itself. The outer vertical wall member 4 at its turns is increased in height, so that the top of it is practically on a level with the upper face of the projector, all of which will be clear from an inspection of Fig. 2.

The car, which is designed to run upon this guideway, comprises a body 14 supported by a series of swiveled rollers 15 designed to run upon track members 3. The sides of this car are provided with horizontal rollers 16 designed to contact with the vertical wall members 4 of the guideway. Thus when the car is running between projectors it is confined within the guideway without danger of lateral displacement. Rotatably mounted within the lower part of the body of the car is a disk 17, which projects slightly beyond the side faces of the car, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The diameter of this disk is such that when the ear rounds a curve at which a projector is situated, this disk contacts on one side with the raised section of the vertical wall member 4, and on the other and inner side with the peripheral edge of the projector. The contacting edge of disk 17 may also be provided with non-slip material, so that there will be no slippage between either the edge of the projector, or the vertical wall member.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Passengers enter the car at any desired point, shown in Fig. 1 as a platform 18. The car then descends by gravity to the first turn of the guideway. At this point its disk 17 is caught between vertical wall member 4 and peripheral edge 13 of the first projector, and as this projector is rapidly rotating, the disk 17 is caused to roll around the inner are of vertical member 4. In consequence the car itself is hurled around the curve and shot along the traekway leading from the first curve and to the second. During the transit of the car around each curve the outer horizontal rollers 16 contact with the lower part of vertical wall 4 and thus prevent the car itself from being twisted from the guideway. The car is thus shot from curve to curve in an irregular and jerky fashion and at varying rates of speed, and is eventually returned to its starting point.

Although one preferred embodiment of the apparatus has. been shown and described, it is clear that certain modifications of this form can readily be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the guideway has been shown as specifically all in one plane. This, of course, is not essential, and it may be highly desirable to provide depressions and elevations between projectors, the only limitation to such a structure being the necessity for getting the car from curve to curve by means of the force imparted to it through the projectors themselves.

This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 364,468, filed March 9, 1920, Patent Number 1,353,929, issued Sept. 28, 1920.

l claim 1. -in amusement apparatus. comprising a winding guideway, a car adapted to move along said guideway, moving members situated at the turns of the guideway adapted to contact with the side of the car to propel it.

2. An amusement apparatus comprising a guideway, a car adapted to move along said guideway, and a rotating projector situated so that its peripheral edge contacts with the car to propel it.

3. In an amusementapparatus, a guideway comprising track members and vertical wall members, a ear adapted to move along said guideway and on said track members, a horizontally rotating projector moving along the guideway to propel the car, the peripheral edge of said rotating projector being substantially continuous with one of the vertical wall members of the guideway.

4. In an amusement apparatus, a guideway comprising track members and vertical wall members, a car adapted to move along said guideway and on said track members, a horizontal disk mounted for rotation in the car and designed to contact with one of the wall members, a horizontally rotating projector moving along the guideway and designed to contact with the disk and roll it along the opposite vertical wall member and thus propel the car.

5. In an amusement apparatus, a guideway having a turn and comprising track members and vertical wall members, a car adapted to move along said guideway and on said track members, a disk mounted on the car for horizontal rotation and designed to contact with the outer vertical wall member at the turn in the guideway, a horizontally rotating projector situated at the turn, and having substantially the same radius as the radius of curvature of the inner wall member at the turn, the relation of the foregoing parts being such that the projector rolls the disk along the outer wall member at the turn, and thus projects the car.

6. In an amusement apparatus, a winding tortuous guideway comprising track members and vertical wall members, a car adapted to move along said guideway and on said track members. a disk mounted upon the car for horizontal rotation. extending beyond the sides of the car and designed to contact with the outer vertical wall member at the turns in the guidcway, horizontally rotatin projectors situated at some of the turns, and having substantially the same radius as the radius of curvature of the inner wall member at the turns. the relation of the foregoing parts being such that the projectors roll the disk along the outer wall member at the several turns. and thus project the car from turn to turn.

7. )in amusement device car comprisin a disk mounted on the car for horizontz rotation and means for rolling said disk along a guideway to propel the car.

8. An amusement device car comprising a disk mounted on the car for horizontal rotation, and extending beyond the sides of the car and means for rolling said disk along a 5 guideway to propel the car.

9. An amusement device car designed to be run in a guideway, said car comprising a disk mounted thereon for horizontal rotation, and designed to be rolled along a vertical wall member of the guideway, and thus 10 propel the car.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature.

HYLA FREDERICK MAYNES. 

